Monday, November 7, 2011

When Sharon Bialek said today that Cain reached up her skirt and pulled her head toward his crotch it sealed the Republican presidential candidate's fate, John Davis says. Davis is a longtime political observer in Raleigh who has called it like he sees it on both Democrats and Republicans for 25 years.

In an email today, Davis said "Cain's goose is cooked."

Davis says Cain blew it by not disclosing the allegations early on, and then by covering up and covering up once they came to light. Cain sought to get back "on message" after a debate in Houston over the weekend, refusing to let reporters ask him anything about the sex harassment allegations.

"Sorry Mr. Cain, but your chance to decide when the sexual harassment issue was over ended the day you decided to not put those 12-year old allegations on the table at the beginning of your campaign," Davis writes.

"Opposition research is one of the most essential investments by any successful campaign. Anything that can be used against you must be disclosed by you at the outset of the campaign with your side of the story forcefully defended. If you wait until your opponent discloses past allegations, it makes your look guilty and dishonest."

Cain's poll numbers somehow held up even as news of three accusers surfaced. But Bialek is the first to go public, to put a name and face with the accusations, and to get specific. If Cain's candidacy doesn't crumble now, it will say a lot more about the Republican electorate of 2012 than it does about Cain.

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comments:

Who in their right mind reaches "agreements" in court over sexual harassment charges AND THEN RUNS FOR PRESIDENT AND EXPECTS THAT IT WILL NOT BE BROUGHT UP?? What a fool! NOBODY wants someone that foolish to be running a country. Any country.

These charges are too distracting and take away from the important issue that this guy is incompetent.I want him to stay in the race because he is STILL leading Romney even after this story breaks. 9-9-9, Ubeki-beki, unelected anywhere, ads that look like art school avant garde projects, claiming that he will decide what questions reporters will ask; it is all just too much. Voters in Italy know this kind of man all too well.

Cain just announced a news conference tomorrow at 5 PM to discuss the charges against him. If he is smart, he will use the news conference to withdraw from the race. This is one man that should just dissolve into the background but he has the arrogance of people like Ralph Reid behind him. God will not have his main man fooled with, they think.

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The Observer's editorial board cares deeply about Charlotte and the Carolinas, and has a problem with public officials who have forgotten that they report to citizens. Editorial page editor Taylor Batten and associate editors Peter St. Onge and Eric Frazier tackle politics and public policy issues locally, across the state and nation. Kevin Siers tackles those issues too in cartoons. Read their columns and biographical information on the CharlotteObserver.com Opinion page.